Foundation Health Corp. said the waiting period for the company's planned $1.27-billion combination with Woodland Hills-based Health Systems International Inc. expired and that no antitrust concerns were raised by the Federal Trade Commission. The transaction would create the nation's fourth-largest managed-health-care company, with 5 million members and $8 billion in annual revenue. The companies said the agreement still needs shareholder approval and other regulatory approvals.

DentiCare of California Inc., a dental health maintenance organization based here, has finalized a $22.8-million merger with Foundation Health Corp. of Sacramento, the companies said Monday. DentiCare President Carl E. Bozzo said the merged entity plans to expand by acquiring other dental HMOs and a vision plan company this year. DentiCare now has 375,000 members, and hopes to have 1 million members by 1994, Bozzo said. Foundation Health Corp. is a medical HMO with 1.2 million members.

Two of California's largest HMOs, Foundation Health Corp. and Health Systems International, on Tuesday announced a $3-billion suturing that would create a managed-care giant with about 5 million members in more than a dozen states. The "merger of equals" would form the nation's fourth-largest publicly held health maintenance organization in an industry where ranks are shifting rapidly because of consolidation. The new company would be called Foundation Health Systems.

"Many States Fail to Adequately Monitor HMOs, Study Finds" (Nov. 29), which suggests that HMOs are not adequately regulated, begs a question: What oversight of medical services existed before? HMOs have inarguably added an entirely new level of quality assurance and accountability that never existed when medicine was characterized by solitary physicians and hospitals. Before HMOs, did anyone proactively monitor quality or check for malpractice judgments and adequate training? Did anyone go into doctors' offices to survey patient medical records to see if appropriate treatment, preventive tests and follow-up occurred?

A San Diego company that manages doctor practices said Monday that it has agreed to buy two Foundation Health Corp. physician groups and 30 health-care centers for $220 million in cash and stock. Foundation, one of California's largest HMOs, said it decided to sell the physician groups to FPA Medical Management largely as a cost-saving move. Instead of managing the groups itself, Foundation would now contract out those services to FPA Medical.

Denticare of California Inc., the Laguna Niguel-based managed care firm that state auditors blasted in June for denying dental care to indigent patients, will not be renewed as its Medi-Cal subcontractor by Cigna Healthplan of Southern California. Denticare thus will lose about 115,000 Medi-Cal patients in Southern California when the contract expires Jan. 31. Foundation Health Corp., Denticare's parent company, announced the non-renewal Monday afternoon.

Foundation Health Corp. said Monday that it has withdrawn its $1.55-billion stock offer to buy Health Systems International Inc., bowing out of a two-way competition that emerged last month to acquire the giant Woodland Hills-based health maintenance organization. Health Systems, which insisted last month that it was not for sale, retreated from that statement and said other potential suitors have surfaced. Health Systems is the corporate parent of Health Net, which has 1.